Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hannah Montana: The Movie is a 2009 musical comedy-drama film based on the Disney Channel Original Series Hannah Montana which was released on April 10, 2009, by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the second theatrical film based on a Disney Channel Original Series. The film was directed by Peter Chelsom with screenplay penned by Daniel Berendsen. The film was produced by David Blocker, Billy Ray Cyrus, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Steven Peterman and Michael Poryes. The film stars Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, Mitchel Musso, Jason Earles, Moises Arias, Lucas Till, and Billy Ray Cyrus. The film tells of how Hannah Montana's popularity begins to take over Miley Stewart's life. Miley's father forces her to take a trip to her hometown of Crowley Corners, Tennessee to get some perspective on what matters the most in her life. Filming began in April 2008, much of it occurring in Columbia, Tennessee, and Los Angeles, California, and was completed in July 2008. The film was released in theaters on April 10, 2009 in the United States and Canada. As the teen sitcom originated on Disney Channel, Disney Channel premiered a teaser trailer of the film during their shows. The film enjoyed financial success, reaching #1 at the box office, but received a moderately mixed response from critics. Plot The film begins in the backstage of a concert hall. Robby Ray Stewart (Billy Ray Cyrus) is moaning as he looks at who appears to be his daughter, Hannah Montana/Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus), with her blonde wig on. The camera then pans around to reveal that it is a mannequin head that is holding the wig. The camera cuts to outside with a close up of many people running from cars, then pans out to a large shot of the stadium. It then cuts to the box office, where the audience can see Miley and her best friend Lilly Truscott (Emily Osment) pushing through to the box office. They attempt to enter the concert as Miley is late, but they are turned away. Lilly makes a joke about Miley being the only superstar who can’t even get into her own concert. Miley then notices a security patrol cart, with the security guard leaving it unattended to help a girl find her family. Miley and Lilly steal the security patrol cart and drive through the halls of the stadium, trying to escape from the security guard while also trying to find Miley’s dressing room. They then drive through a poster of Hannah screaming, and the head from the poster winds up on Miley’s face, a “coincidental” placing. Miley and Lilly finally reach the dressing room and Robby rushes them inside, pushing off the security guard that was chasing them. Miley puts on her makeup and clothes, abruptly pushing Robby out the door for the changing clothes part. The camera then cuts one last time to show Miley putting on her blonde wig, becoming Hannah. Hannah and Robby then walk out of the dressing room, while Lilly wishes her good luck. The camera then changes to under the stage while Hannah and Robby walk under the stage and Hannah bumps her head on one of the poles. Robby reminds her that she always bumps her head, then tells her it’s her turn to do the dishes. Hannah complains then that she already did them, but Robbie reminds her that’s what she gets for the best of both worlds. Hannah then rises on a platform singing “Best of Both Worlds”. The camera then zooms in on a music video playing in the background, a music video on a beach for the song she’s singing. The video then becomes the actual scene and the music starts skipping causing Hannah to say “best of both” around seven times. The filming of the music video ends and Hannah returns to her tent to change. Before she takes off her wig, a man enters, causing her to scream. The man asks for her autograph for his daughters, and also asks for a picture before Hannah’s manager, Vita (Vanessa Williams), stops him. She introduces the man as Oswald Granger (Peter Gunn), a sneaky undercover journalist for UK celebrity magazine Bon Chic, who vows to uncover Hannah's secret. Miley (as Hannah) ends up fighting with Tyra Banks over a pair of shoes she wants to buy for Lilly's birthday present. When Oswald follows her to the party, Miley is forced to attend as Hannah instead of herself, taking all of the attention away from Lilly – especially when Hannah is accompanied by Steve Rushton and Days Difference in a performance of "Let's Get Crazy". Oliver Oken (Mitchel Musso) and Rico Suave (Moises Arias) try to stop Lilly from leaving, but the party is ruined by Rico's exploding "Happy Birthday Lilly" cake. As Lilly leaves her own party hurt by her best friend's actions, she accidentally tells Oswald that Hannah is from Crowley Corners, Tennessee, unaware that he is a journalist. Robby is furious when Hannah's fight with Tyra Banks makes newspaper reports. Disgusted with his daughter's general behavior, he tells Miley that Hannah is out of control and Miley needs to remember who she truly is. He tells Vita that as punishment, Hannah will not go to New York for an upcoming music awards show and instead will go to her Grandma Ruby’s birthday party in Tennessee. Miley and Vita convince him to let Miley go, saying they’ll even get a private jet to hurry her to New York and then to Tennessee. Robby agrees, but the look on his face indicates he has other plans. Inside the private jet, Miley steps out in her Hannah garb from the washroom then sits down in a chair complaining about the small bathroom. Robby closes the window and then snoozes. The scene then cuts to Hannah coming out of the airplane saying hello to New York, only to see a cow, and she realizes that they are not in New York but in Tennessee. Miley is upset at her father for the switch but Robby points out that this is the life she could have had. Despite Miley's protests, Robby decides to spend two weeks in Crowley Corners and falls in love with a woman named Lorelai. Miley eventually warms to her hometown when she rekindles a connection with childhood friend Travis Brody. Nevertheless, Miley is eager to resume her Hannah duties and becomes chastened after Ruby snaps, saying that she seems to prefer being Hannah Montana over spending time with her family. Miley tries to write lyrics for new songs but Travis ignores her and she develops writer's block. Meanwhile, conflict grows between the local residents and land developer Mr. Bradley, who wants to destroy part of the town to build a shopping mall. At a barn party, several singers such as Taylor Swift contribute to a charity to save Crowley Corners, singing "Back to Tennessee" and "Crazier". Miley sings as herself with "Hoedown Throwdown". Mr. Bradley arrives to tell the townspeople that their efforts to stop him will not succeed. Travis suggests that Miley ask Hannah Montana to make an appearance, unaware that Hannah is Miley's alter-ego. Miley does not know what to do until Lilly arrives, disguised as Hannah. As the two make up, Miley confides her difficulties, adjusting to farm life while trying to be herself and Hannah. Oswald takes pictures of the girls, believing Lilly to be Hannah Montana, and Lilly realizes she inadvertently led Oswald there and apologizes to Miley. The town is overjoyed to have Hannah Montana but Travis is unimpressed and admits to Hannah that he has a crush on Miley. As Hannah, Miley urges Travis to ask Miley out and he does, but Miley has already been invited to dinner with the mayor by Lorelai. Miley tries to be in two places at once but accidentally lets her guard down and is caught by Travis mid-switch, leading to him dumping her. Miley finishes writing "Butterfly Fly Away" which she and Robby sing together to cheer up. Miley completes the chicken coop that she and Travis were building; touched by this, Travis goes to the concert to support Miley. Seeing Travis arrive, Hannah stops mid-song and explains to the crowd that she cannot live a lie anymore, especially when she is in her home town. Hannah then removes her blonde wig, revealing her secret identity. She then sings "The Climb" and announces that she's not going to be Hannah Montana anymore and that she'll be returning home to Tennessee for good. The crowd pleads her to continue being Hannah Montana, promising not to reveal her secret, but Oswald is in the crowd and takes a picture. His daughters arrive, having missed the Hannah reveal, and their excitement and enthusiasm for Hannah convinces him to not sell the story and quit his job. Miley kisses Travis and then returns to the stage to finish with the song "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home". She sees Lorelai and Robby kissing and waving, Jackson making an “L” with his hand, and Travis smiling at her. “The End” then appears on the screen. The credits begin to roll with an reprise of “Hoedown Throwdown” playing as the cast and crew dance to the song and the bloopers. Cast *Miley Cyrus as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana *Billy Ray Cyrus as Robby Ray Stewart *Emily Osment as Lilly Truscott *Jason Earles as Jackson Stewart *Mitchel Musso as Oliver Oken *Moises Arias as Rico Suave *Lucas Till as Travis Brody *Vanessa L. Williams as Vita, Hannah Montana's personal assistant *Margo Martindale as Grandma Ruby *Peter Gunn as Oswald Granger, a sneaky undercover journalist for a British magazine, BonChic, who sets out to discover Hannah Montana's secret and expose it to the world. *Jared Carter as Derrick *Melora Hardin as Lorelai, Robby's love interest. *Barry Bostwick as Mr. Bradley, the land developer that is attempting to build a mall on the towns site. *Beau Billingslea as the Mayor of Crowley Corners *Katrina Hagger Smith as the mayor's wife *Emily Grace Reaves as Cindy Lou *Jane Carr as Lucinda, Oswald's intimadating boss and the editor of BonChic. *Taylor Swift as herself *Rascal Flatts as themselves *Josh Childs as store manager *Steve Rushton as himself (Lilly's birthday band) *Bucky Covington as himself (Fundraiser band) *Tyra Banks (uncredited) as herself Production Development While attending at the premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Billy Ray Cyrus and Miley Cyrus said they were planning to make a film adaptation for their TV series Hannah Montana, which debuted on Disney Channel on March 24, 2006, and expected it to be a feature film, rather than a Disney Channel Original Movie. Since writers were still working on the script for the movie, Cyrus was free to share whatever ideas she may had for the upcoming project. She said that, at the time, the best concept she has thought of involves going back to her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. Since Hannah Montana is taped at Tribune Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Cyrus spends most of her time away from her beloved home. She spends up to eight and a half hours a day working on the set, but her hours could get longer once she becomes a legal adult. Billy Ray Cyrus shared further details about the script: "There'll be a lot of similarities the show, and the fact that Miley is so real, her music is real, we'll keep a lot of that realism," the 45-year-old country artist revealed. "But I think we'll go a little further with the comedy. And it's going to be on the big screen, so we'll try to make everything look bigger." The movie went into production on an estimated $30 million budget. On the April 2 episode of "The Miley & Mandy Show" series on YouTube Miley spoke to Ryan Seacrest and she spoke on flying to Tennessee in "two weeks" and would be staying for several months. She went to say there would be many guest stars, and herself riding horses and attending school. Filming Filming began in April 2008 in Los Angeles, California and Columbia, Tennessee. It entered post-production in July 2008. The beginning of the film was shot in Los Angeles, California, United States, including Franklin High School and Santa Monica Beach. Several of scenes were filmed in Nashville, Tennessee, based on Cyrus and her father's hometown, for the scene that Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana's travels back home, with Fairground scenes filmed near the end of the movie. There is a carnival scene filmed at Smiley Hollow in Ridgetop, TN where Peter Gunn's character hunts for the real Hannah in the crowd and he finds Jackson selling 'Hannah wigs' and everyone around him looks like Hannah from the back so he turns them all around looking for the real one. A song called "Backwards" (co-written by Marcel and Tony Mullins and recorded by Rascal Flatts) and a song by Taylor Swift, "Crazier," was featured in the movie as well as two hit songs by UK rocker Steve Rushton. Also filmed there were a few musical numbers, including "The Climb", and "You'll Always Find Your Way Back Home". 500 paid extras and 1500 volunteer extras were on hand during filming of these scenes. The movie features two songs by UK artist Steve Rushton, including hit song "Game Over". Steve wrote both songs and performs them at Lilly's birthday party on Santa Monica Pier. In some scenes, Miley will be riding horses. A scene was filmed in the Cool Springs Galleria Mall (south of Nashville). It was filmed in the woman's shoe department of the Belk store. Miley Cyrus, Vanessa L. Williams, and Tyra Banks were all in the scene. Hannah fights with Tyra over a pair of shoes. Scenes were also filmed at Franklin High School. The school stood in for the fictional Seaview High School in which Miley and Lilly attend. Accident On June 3, 2008, there was an accident on the set during the filming. A huge wind blew a projection screen into a Ferris wheel full of passengers, who were extras for the movie. Fortunately, there was no serious injury. "When the wind caught it, all the cables were loose. It started flying," extra Brenda Blackford told Nashville station WKRN-TV. "I was watching to see which corner of it was gonna hit the Ferris wheel, because it was unavoidable." Miley Cyrus and her father Billy Ray were not on the set when the accident happened. Disney stated: "During a break in the filming of Hannah Montana: The Movie, a minor accident occurred involving a piece of production equipment. Fortunately, there were only a few minor injuries. Medical personnel have treated the extras and crew involved. None of the cast was on the set. Filming has resumed. Marketing On January 15, 2009, the film's official trailer was released, along with the official poster on a website, as a sneak peek of the film was released on December 2008 on Disney Channel, including on New Year's Eve. On February 16, 2009, an exclusive Disney Channel preview was premiered alongside the music videos "The Climb" and "Hoedown Throwdown" from the Hannah Montana: The Movie soundtrack previewed by Miley Cyrus. Cyrus also promoted the film and performed the film's lead single "The Climb" on various talk shows including, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America, The Tyra Banks Show, and Rachael Ray. She also performed her song on American Idol on April 16, 2009. A video game based on the film was released on April 7, 2009, three days before the film's release. The game was revealed by ESRB. Release The film was issued a G rating from the MPAA for all ages admitted. The premiere of Hannah Montana: The Movie was held on April 2, 2009 in Los Angeles, The UK premiere was held in London on April 23, 2009 and was released in cinemas (UK and Ireland) on May 1, 2009. Play Along Toys released dolls and toys based on the film. Box office On its opening day, the film grossed $17,436,095, and earned $32,324,487 on its opening weekend, with a $10,367 average from 3,118 theaters, earning the #1 spot. However, the film lost 58% of its gross its second weekend, as it got the #3 spot its second weekend, earning $13,406,217 and $4,300 average and gaining 113 theaters. The film ended up grossing $79,576,189 in the US and Canada, and $75,969,090 overseas, and a total of $155,545,279 worldwide. The film beat the motion-picture animated film Coraline which, garnered a total of $124,596,398 in theaters, but came after the film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit which grossed a total of $192,610,372. Critical reception The film received generally mixed reviews. Rotten Tomatoes scored the film a 44% based on 119 reviews, and the average made 5.2 out of 10 average rating. Metacritic gives a score of 47% based on 25 reviews, indicating mixed or average reviews. Entertainment Weekly praised: "The surface lesson of the movie is that celebrity looks easy but is hard. The real lesson, as always, is that since even Miley has to work overtime to be Hannah, every girl in the audience — if she tries hard enough — can become the star she longs to be". Peter Hartlaub from San Francisco Chronicle praised: "Hannah Montana: The Movie isn't an abomination. The characters are wholesome, the plot is easy to follow and the songs all sound the same, so you can really only get one stuck in your head at a time. But even as adults give their blessing for prepubescent moviegoers to see the film, they should be plotting to stay as far away from the theater as possible. If you're no longer old enough to carry a Hannah Montana lunch box, this movie will feel like punishment." Atomic Popcorn stated: "Hip-hop and country. Like the Hannah Montana's theme song says, "You get the best of both worlds." Ten minutes before the movie started, the two rows of what looked to be 14-year-old girls started singing the TV show theme song. Over and over again. The little 6- to 10-year-old girls that filled the rest of the theater were singing along and dancing in their seats. My 16-year-old daughter said with a big smile on her face, 'Isn't this fun?' I said, with as much of a smile as I could muster, 'A little bit.'" Blogcritics also viewed for the film: "This movie definitely hit the target audience mark with the best opening day for a live action, G-rated movie. The predictable ending strays from the fun tone to address drama from the two main character arcs. Some stereotypes and commercialism weaken the movie, but target and general audiences can find a wide variety of appealing elements here while Hannah fans won't be disappointed." Home media Hannah Montana: The Movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on August 18, 2009. Hannah Montana: The Movie was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 7 in the UK. It was also released on DVD, Blu-ray and Disney Digital in Australia on October 21. First week sales were strong with 1,232,725 DVD copies sold and over $20 million in revenue. Total DVD sales to date stand at 3,610,964 and $61 million in revenue. Extras include behind the scenes, bloopers, sneak peeks and more. There were 3 editions released: *The 1-disc DVD (the normal DVD) *The 2-disc DVD (normal DVD and digital copy) *The 3-disc Blu-ray (the Blu-ray disc, the normal DVD and the digital copy) Awards and nominations Television premiere The film made its world premiere on Disney Channel on November 19, 2010, where it drew 4.6 million viewers. Soundtrack Gallery Tumblr nesr9971441qhcrb0o1 1280.jpg hannah_montana_the_movie44.jpg hannah-montana-the-movie_152589_1.jpg Trivia *Not counting the direct-to-video films or the Disneynature films, this was the last Disney live-action film to be rated G by the MPAA until 2019's Disney+ film ''Noelle''. Category:Live-action films Category:2009 films Category:G-rated films Category:Hannah Montana Category:Films based on television shows